Books to TV - Showtime's Dexter
Comparison of the Television Adaptation to Darkly Dreaming Dexter
May 28, 2009
Adaptations of books or book series into movies or TV seem to take one of two approaches. Some adaptations follow the book as closely as they can, preserving the spirit or "feel" of the source material as well as the story and the characters. Others ignore the source material almost completely and create an entirely new story and even a new set of characters to work more smoothly in the dynamic of the new medium. Both approaches have their pluses and minuses, and both can prove successful or not work at all.
The latter approach applies to the TV adaptation of Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan series into the TV show Bones. The former approach, which remains more faithful to the source material, applies to the Showtime TV adaptation of Jeff Lindsay's Dexter Morgan series.
Dexter is Faithful Adaptation of Jeff Lindsay's Novel
The full first season of Dexter--13 episodes--is a remarkably faithful adaptation of the first novel in Lindsay's series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Unlike many adaptations, which require compression and abbreviation of the source story, the 13-episode format of the Showtime series allowed the TV writers to expand on Lindsay's original vision. With clever use of voiceover, Lindsay's wry first person style is preserved. This approach allows TV Dexter to remain accessible and sympathetic even while his brutal extracurricular activities are made even more graphic by the medium of television.
The plot itself is a bit thin in the original novel, hampered by the first person approach. The TV approach allows the writers to preserve the first person flavor while at the same time exploring the points of view of other major characters, most notably Dexter's sister Deb and the mysterious serial murderer, who in the TV series becomes the ice truck killer. The twist at the end and the final confrontation are much more fleshed out, bringing the storyline to a more satisfying conclusion.
Dexter on TV More Satisfying than in Original Text
In fact, Dexter is one of the few examples where the adaptation is actually deeper, more satisfying, and more fleshed out than the original book. With thirteen hours of TV time, the producers were able to explore several incidents and characters that receive short shrift in the novel. With these pieces more thoroughly explored and explained, the tension is ratcheted up, and the final conclusion has a better set-up and a stronger emotional payoff.
One area where the book does supply a bit more insight is in the way Dexter relates to his sociopathic tendencies. His discussion of the “Dark Traveler” gives the reader a slightly better feel for his state of mind, although the TV adaptation comes very close to matching it. Overall, the creators Dexter the TV show are to be commended for an excellent adaptation that not only honors the original material, but augments it.
